Michael
Mirolla [photo credit: Salvatore Mirolla] describes his writing as a mix of
magic realism, surrealism, speculative fiction and meta-fiction. Publications
include the novel Berlin (2010
Bressani Prize winner); The Facility,
featuring a string of cloned Mussolinis; and The Giulio Metaphysics III, where “Giulio” battles for freedom from
his own creator. Other publications: the short story collection The Formal Logic of Emotion; a punk
novella, The Ballad of Martin B.; and
two collections of poetry: Light and Time,
and The House on 14th
Avenue (2014 Bressani Prize). His short story collection, Lessons in Relationship Dyads (Red Hen
Press, California), took the 2016 Bressani Prize. The novel Torp: The Landlord, The Husband, The Wife
and The Lover, set in 1970 Vancouver, was published in 2016, and 2017 saw
the publication of the magic realist short story collection The Photographer in Search of Death (Exile
Editions). The short story,
“A Theory of Discontinuous Existence,” was selected for The Journey Prize Anthology; and “The Sand Flea” was a Pushcart
Prize nominee. Born in Italy, raised in Montreal, Michael now lives in
Oakville, Ontario. For more: http://www.michaelmirolla.com/index.html.
[Michael Mirolla will be launching his short story
collection The Photographer in Search
of Death at Octopus Books in Ottawa on Wednesday, February 28]
1 - How did your
first book change your life? How does your most recent work compare to your
previous? How does it feel different?
As I had been writing since Grade School and had many
short stories and poems published before my first book (The Formal Logic of Emotion), its publication didn't change my life
all that much – except perhaps to give me confidence about future publishing.
My most recent published work is in some ways a throwback to some of my
earliest: more speculative fiction/magic realism style material versus a more
realist/naturalist approach in works such as Torp and Lessons in
Relationship Dyads. In some ways, I feel as if I've gone full circle or
perhaps an upward spiral is better – as if I could reach down and touch themes
and concepts from my past which would be a long way off if I actually had to go
back to them.
2 - How did you
come to poetry first, as opposed to, say, fiction or non-fiction?
Well, while my first piece of published writing was a
poem ("The Strange Land"), published in Canadian Forum when I was 19, I wrote a lot more fiction than
poetry in the early days. And I also concentrated on writing plays. It was a
play, for example, that got me into the MFA creative writing program at UBC way
back in 1969. And one of the first awards I received was from the Ottawa Little Theatre Playwriting Competition.
3 - How long
does it take to start any particular writing project? Does your writing
initially come quickly, or is it a slow process? Do first drafts appear looking
close to their final shape, or does your work come out of copious notes?
My projects start quickly. A few notes and I'm off.
The writing itself also comes quickly. In spurts. When it comes to drafts,
however, it all depends on the particular project. Poems comes out pretty much
in finalized form. Most short stories also emerge almost fully formed. Novels
are a different animal and may go through numerous iterations before something
comes out that I feel works. Again, when it comes to notes, novels can create
many files of research, much of its tangential and perhaps never destined to
see the light of day.
4 - Where does a
poem or work of prose usually begin for you? Are you an author of short pieces
that end up combining into a larger project, or are you working on a
"book" from the very beginning?
I think this definitely depends on the particular
project. For an individual poem, it comes out of an image ... a feeling ... a
colour ... Short stories arise from all kinds of sources – newspaper articles,
a philosophy text, the internet ... A novel starts with a major concept/conflict/big
idea. I've converted some short stories into a novella but, when it comes to
novels, that's how they start. Although I have taken pieces of a novel and
turned them into short stories.
5 - Are public
readings part of or counter to your creative process? Are you the sort of
writer who enjoys doing readings?
When I was young and an "artiste," it was
the garret for me. The world would come a-knockin'. Now, I love readings. I
love the interaction with the audience. They have very much become part of my
creative process.
6 - Do you have
any theoretical concerns behind your writing? What kinds of questions are you
trying to answer with your work? What do you even think the current questions
are?
If I had to come up with one major theoretical concern
behind my writing, it would be the intersection between self-identity-society.
Questions: What does it mean to be human? What makes us essentially human? How
does the individual consciousness interact with that of others? At what point
can we state that a human being has been stripped of all the non-essentials
that accrue over a lifetime? In my opinion, the questions being asked in much
of today's literature miss the point: rather than asking what it means to be
human, they tend to ask what it means to be this or that -- gender, race, etc.
Rather than looking inward to see what's right and what's wrong, they tend to
be directed outwards, looking to place blame elsewhere.
7 – What do you
see the current role of the writer being in larger culture? Does s/he even have
one? What do you think the role of the writer should be?
I see the role of the writer to be similar to that of
Socrates: to question the consumer propaganda, to sort the truth from
indoctrination, to fight for what is truly individual and unique versus the
sheep/herd mentality, to serve as a voice that combines head and heart in order
to get down to what is really important and valuable for our short stay on the planet.
Unfortunately, too many of our writers today are too busy in-fighting and
dreaming of superstardom to appreciate these tasks let alone take them on in
their writing.
8 - Do you find
the process of working with an outside editor difficult or essential (or both)?
As an editor myself of more than 40 years' standing, I
might be prejudiced in saying that an outside editor is very important in the
writing process. But I wouldn't go so far as to say "essential". I
guess it depends on how much a writer trusts his/her instincts. My own
experiences with working with an outside editor have always been positive.
9 - What is the
best piece of advice you've heard (not necessarily given to you directly)?
“Try again. Fail again. Fail better.” – Samuel Beckett
10 - How easy
has it been for you to move between genres (poetry to plays to short stories to
novels)? What do you see as the appeal?
It has been relatively easy to move from one genre to
another. Often I'm working in three or four different ones at the same time. I
also find it easy to move from non-literary work to the literary output. A
switch somewhere? Maybe. The appeal? Well, for me, each genre has its own way
of "saying" something. The aim is the same; the approach is
different. One thing is constant: language.
11 - What kind
of writing routine do you tend to keep, or do you even have one? How does a
typical day (for you) begin?
Not much of a routine these days. Typical day begins
with email. Some days, I jot down what has been brewing overnight; other days I
pull up something I've been working on; still others, I do secretarial work.
12 - When your
writing gets stalled, where do you turn or return for (for lack of a better
word) inspiration?
It's an internal process these days. I used to turn to
the classics – poetry, novels, philosophical writing. But now I turn inwards.
13 - What
fragrance reminds you of home?
Grated orange peels.
14 - David W.
McFadden once said that books come from books, but are there any other forms
that influence your work, whether nature, music, science or visual art?
Yes, all of the above (as strained through books).
15 - What other
writers or writings are important for your work, or simply your life outside of
your work?
16 - What would
you like to do that you haven't yet done?
Take a trip to Mars
17 - If you
could pick any other occupation to attempt, what would it be? Or, alternately,
what do you think you would have ended up doing had you not been a writer?
Before I switched to English Lit and Philosophy at
university, I was taking advanced math, chemistry and physics. I probably would
have ended up as a chemist.
18 - What made
you write, as opposed to doing something else?
I have been writing since Grade School. Without
writing, I wouldn't exist. From the start, it was my way of making sense of myself.
19 - What was
the last great book you read? What was the last great film?
Last great book: Gravity's Rainbow. Last great film: Il conformista and/or Amarcord.
20 - What are
you currently working on?
I have been working on: a new collection of poems
(tentatively titled Repositories); a
new collection of short stories (speculative fiction); and a novel I have been
struggling with since 1993 called The
Second Law of Thermodynamics.
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